SEOUL, June 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's employment grew over 300,000 for the fourth consecutive month in May, with jobless rate slightly falling, a government report showed Wednesday.
The number of those employed totaled 26,824,000 in May, up 375,000 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.
Manufacturers reduced employees by 25,000 last month, keeping the downward momentum for the 11th straight month, while the number of those self-employed increased by 51,000.
The government-led restructuring among trouble shipbuilding and shipping companies, which kicked off last year, led to an increase in the self-employed as the cash-strapped companies reduced workers.
Employment rate came to 61.3 percent in May, up 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier. It was the highest in about two decades. The OECD-method hiring rate for those aged 15-64 rose 0.7 percentage points to 67 percent.
Unemployment rate stood at 3.6 percent in May, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous year. The number of those unemployed reached 1,003,000 in May, but it was down 2,000 from a year ago.
The jobless rate among those aged 15-29 fell 0.4 percentage points over the year to 9.3 percent in May.
The so-called sentiment jobless rate gained 0.2 percentage points to 11 percent in May. The figure for the young generation surged 0.9 percentage points to 22.9 percent.
The sentiment rate began to be compiled in January 2015 to more accurately reflect labor market conditions.
The official unemployment rate refers to those who were immediately available for work but failed to get a job in the past four weeks despite efforts to actively seek a job.
The sentiment rate adds those who are too discouraged to seek a job, those who work part-time against their will to work full-time and those who prepare to get a job after college graduations to the official jobless rate.
Amid the record-level sentiment jobless rate, especially among youths, President Moon Jae-in asked the National Assembly earlier this week to pass the supplementary budget plan worth about 10 billion U.S. dollars through the parliament.
Moon became the country's first president who made a parliamentary speech to only ask for the passage of the extra budget.
Moon said in a televised national address that the youth unemployment may become a national disaster without immediate special measures.
Some local media reports speculated that almost half of graduates failed to find a job.
It led to hardships of life among the younger generation, most of whom worked part-time or as irregular workers.
Moon said the high youth unemployment was a "heart-rending" situation for the parents of college graduates.
The number of discouraged job seekers, who were forcibly discouraged from getting a job because of the worst labor market situations, increased 82,000 from a year earlier to 502,000 in May. It was the highest increase since August last year.
